Chapter Twenty-Five #2
I laughed as I tried and failed to push the mixture to the corners of the wall.
I couldn’t quite angle my wrists in the right way.
I stepped back, assessing my efforts. The white mush was patchy and uneven.
It looked more like one of those hipster bars in Camden with exposed plaster and Edison bulbs.
Fine for a dive bar. Not entirely the vibe for a house someone was going to buy.
‘Oh my god, this is terrible.’
‘You’re a natural,’ Danny replied, humour in his voice.
I attempted to make it better, spreading the remainder of the plaster, trying to keep it all even. Once I was done, I turned around to look at Danny.
‘What do you think? Any better?’
Danny grinned. ‘I’ve seen worse.’
I snorted. ‘Thanks.’
I turned to ask Liam and paused. He was looking at Danny with an intense, watchful expression. His eyes weren’t moving from him. A light blush on his cheeks. His gaze shifted to me and darkened with something else. Desire. He was… god. Liam’s eyes were dark and stormy.
Jealousy.
Liam was jealous.
I glanced at Danny. His eyes were shifting between Liam and me as fast as lightning, and a new realisation dawned on his face. His smile turned feral.
‘Alright, boss?’ Danny said, humour at the edge of his voice. ‘I was just teaching Kat some tricks of the trade. She’s a natural.’
Danny bumped my shoulder.
‘I don’t remember paying you to flirt, Danny.’
God, it was immature to find it sexy. I needed to grow up.
I was a feminist, for fuck’s sake. I didn’t need some alpha dickhead getting all possessive.
But damn. The murderous look on Liam’s face sent a thrill up my spine.
I’d never had anyone jealous because of me, so sue me.
It was a novel experience, the way Liam’s eyes tracked Danny’s shoulder touching mine.
Danny didn’t flinch or cower. He was grinning. He must be so used to dealing with Liam’s moods that it made him invincible. Or reckless.
Danny shrugged. ‘You know me. I can’t resist chatting up a pretty girl.’
‘She’s a woman, not a girl. And I do know you,’ Liam seethed. ‘Get back to work.’ Liam angled his head. ‘Kat, a word?’
Liam turned on his heel and stalked from the room, and I couldn’t help but stare at his arse in those utility trousers. I should be angry at him for being petty and territorial, but with an arse like that, I couldn’t stay angry forever.
Danny gave me a look. ‘I wonder what’s got into him today?’
‘I’ll go check on him,’ I said, shuffling from the room, leaving Danny to finish the wall.
‘Mhm,’ Danny said, returning to fix the wall.
I went into the hallway in search of Liam.
A hand pulled me through into the next room, the dining room, and back against a solid chest. The sun came through the window, illuminating the dust and naked floorboards under our feet.
Liam’s hands were around my waist, holding me to him, my back to his chest. I held back a shiver at his breath at my ear.
‘Would you say yes?’ Liam’s voice rumbled. ‘If he asked you out? Because he wants to. I can tell.’
I gave a breathy laugh. ‘Why does it matter?’
‘Are you trying to make me jealous?’ Liam said, voice low.
I smirked. ‘That’s all it took –’
‘I want to spank you so bad right now,’ Liam said into my ear, eliciting a shiver through me. I never thought I was into… that. But when Liam said it with a teasing edge to his voice, I was in.
‘Would you say yes?’ Liam asked. ‘Tell me.’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘Because of you.’
‘Good girl.’ Liam whipped me around and pressed me against the door.
We moved together, our lips meeting, a clash of tongues and teeth.
His weight pressed down on me, pushing me harder into the door.
Liam’s hands roamed all over me. Then, he pulled back and gave me an earnest look.
This was real Liam. No resting bitch face. No schooled emotions.
He was unguarded and genuine.
‘You were laughing with him.’ Liam tucked a strand of my hair behind my ears. ‘Those easy laughs that you make me earn.’ He leaned forward, planted a kiss on my neck, and followed it with a nip at my collarbone. He pressed himself against me, and I could feel him, hard, against my thigh.
‘Liam.’
‘You know what he can’t get you to do?’
‘What?’ I panted.
‘He can’t make you moan, Red.’ Liam’s lips captured mine again.
It was like a battle of who could turn on who.
He turned me to press me against the wall, and I palmed him, making him grunt.
I smiled as he nipped at my neck and whispered my name.
Liam’s leg went between mine, putting pressure where I desperately wanted it, and I was struck by how ready I was.
It would usually take me half an hour of foreplay – at least – to be this turned on, especially when I was so easily distracted, my brain running off on tangents.
But Liam had a way of focusing me on my body, how it moved for him, and how it reacted to him.
‘We can’t here,’ I panted, Liam’s lips trailing down my neck. ‘Danny will hear.’
‘You’ll have to be quiet, then,’ Liam said, pressing his thigh into me, drawing a moan from my lips. I moved against him, desperate. I would be embarrassed later about the noises I was making.
‘Yeah, that’s it. Ride my leg.’ He whispered the last part in my ear, making my head roll back.
I was panting, and the delicious friction of Liam’s thigh between my legs scrambled my thoughts. Something about Danny being a wall away, about this being so… public. It wound me up tighter. I was close.
Liam moved his leg, and I moaned. Liam’s grin widened.
‘Good girl,’ Liam said, slipping his hands between my legs. He touched me, and I jolted at the touch. I was so sensitive.
‘So wet.’
Liam touched me in circles, and I moaned louder, even as I tried to hold it back. A large, calloused hand came over my mouth, trapping the sound. The movement shoved me over the edge. I saw stars and constellations. The whole fucking cosmos.
Liam murmured, ‘Good girl’ and ‘Fucking yes’.
My heart rate began to slow. Liam held me closer, his hands trailing over my back in soothing patterns.
A clang of a tool hitting the wooden floorboards echoed. Reality hit about where we were and who was in the room next to us. Danny.
Oh my god.
I tilted my head up to Liam. He looked down, unconcerned. Peaceful. I was anything but.
‘I can’t believe we just did that with him next door,’ I hissed. ‘Do you think he heard?’
Liam’s face split into a grin. ‘I hope he did.’
‘Liam!’ I whacked him on the chest.
Liam’s grin widened, and he ran a thumb across my lower lip.
‘You started this, Kat. Remember that.’ He pulled me back into a hug, his smell surrounding me.
I wanted to stay there forever, wrapped up in post-sex bliss.
It struck me then that I’d never felt this level of contentment with anyone in my entire life.
I was slipping, slowly and all at once, into a life here with Liam.
What had I started? And more importantly, how would it end?